These “settings files” are intended for use with Add/Strip™ (info-mac/text/add-strip-322.hqx at any Info-Mac mirror <news:comp.sys.mac.digest>). They enable you to convert RTF files with Greek characters between MacOS and MS Windows. Every self-respecting word processor should be able to read and write RTF (Rich Text Format). Thereby you can transfer documents in Greek and English characters with complete formatting between MacOS and MS Windows.
The RTF files must be written entirely in one of the following character sets:
If you have a file with mixed content (for example, with both Greek and West European Latin characters), you must split it into parts and convert the Greek and West European Latin parts separately.
Note:
MacGreek covers English, French, German, and Greek.
Windows-1253 covers English and Greek.
You can get such fonts, for example, from:
info-mac/info/convert-greek-fonts-11.hqx at any Info-Mac mirror
The last file is a disk image; you need Apple’s Disk Copy to process it.
What to do?
(1) Start Add/Strip by opening the appropriate settings file in the Finder:
• “Text –> RTF”
Convert a text file from 8-bit form to RTF form.
You must apply this conversion first if you want to convert an ordinary text file (*.TXT).
• “MacGreek –> Windows-1253”
Convert an RTF file from MacGreek to Windows-1253.
You need to reformat French and German text (if any) by changing to Western, Windows-1252 fonts.
• “Windows-1253 –> MacGreek”
Convert an RTF file from Windows-1253 to MacGreek.
(2) Choose the menu “Mode : Process Only”.
(3) With the Option key down, choose the menu “File : Process Any File…”. Alternatively, drag the RTF files that you want to convert onto the Add/Strip icon in the Finder.
You can modify the settings files to suit your own needs. Choose the menu “Mode : Configure”, then choose the menu “Define : Replacement Strings…”. At the beginning of the table, you see pairs of corresponding font names — one font from MacOS, the other from MS Windows. Here you can add your own font names. End each name with a semicolon (;).
For example, you might have the font Times Ten Greek for the Macintosh but not for Windows where you want to display the text in Times New Roman Greek. Then you would add the pair “Times Ten Greek;” and “Times New Roman Greek;” to the list.
If you don’t know which fonts are used in a Windows RTF file, open it first with a text editor like BBEdit.
Trouble-shooting
Work with style sheets, so that you can easily adjust the fonts in your converted documents.
Save your documents in Rich Text Format (*.RTF), not in MS Word format (*.DOC). The following procedure does not work: Open a Windows DOC file on the Mac; save as RTF; convert with Add/Strip.
Map PC files with extension “.RTF” to files of type “TEXT” in your Internet Config, Netscape, PC Exchange, ZipIt, etc. preferences.
Rebuild your desktop file, i.e. press Option–Command during start-up.
Do not use MacLinkPlus.
Do not open and save a Mac RTF file on the Mac after you converted it from Mac to Windows.
Do not open and save a Win RTF file on the Mac before you converted it from Windows to Mac.
Some localized, non-English versions of MS Word mess up the curly quotation marks <http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q108/8/62.htm>. As a result, the Greek small letters ‘beta’ and ‘psi’ from MacOS show up as curly quotes under MS Windows. In this case, use the settings file “MacGreek –> Windows-1253*”.
Please read first the documentation that comes with Add/Strip before you ask me any further questions!
You can find information about RTF at <ftp://ftp.primate.wisc.edu/pub/RTF/>.
